April 2011

April 30, 2011

IRVING – After the final day of the NFL draft, the only thing David Arkin needed to make his day complete was a case for his cell phone.

Arkin, an offensive lineman from Missouri State drafted in the fourth round by the Cowboys on Saturday, had gone to a mall to get one when Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called.

"I was walking in, and that’s when I got the call," Arkin said. "I was freaking out up there."

Arkin, a 6-5, 302-pound senior, was trying to get his mind off the draft, disappointed that he hadn’t been drafted sooner than 109th. He said he didn’t expect the Cowboys to take him.

"They weren’t a team that I figured would target me, but you talk to a lot of different teams and you think some teams would take you more than others," he said. "But I think they try to disguise it to teams."

Arkin started all 44 games in college, the first 31 at right guard before moving to left tackle because of injury.

"I saw myself more as an interior guy, as that’s what I really enjoy playing," he said. "But I think I’m versatile and can play both."

As for that cell phone case?

"No, I just said forget it," Arkin said. "I just walked around for a couple of minutes and then I was like, ‘I can’t even do it,’ and I drove back."

Wisconsin's Bill Nagy, a 300-pound offensive lineman who played in the Rose Bowl against TCU, was the eighth and final pick for the Dallas Cowboys, and their third offensive-line pick of the three-day draft, joining tackle Tyron Smith (first round) and center David Arkin (fourth).

Nagy was the 49th pick of the seventh and final round, and No. 252 overall.

He started late in the year for Wisconsin at center, and showed his versatility with a start at tight end against Ohio State.

Now comes the indecision about free-agent signings for undrafted players. How will that be handled during the lockout?

The Dallas Cowboys' first pick in the seventh round, 17th in the round and 220th overall, was Shaun Chapas, a 6-foot-2, 247-pound fullback. Chris Gronkowski and Deon Anderson were fullbacks on the Cowboys roster last season.

Chapas seems to fulfill coach Jason Garrett's requirements that he pick football players (guys who can play special teams) who are the right guys and have the measurables of size and strength.

From the Georgia media guide, here were the 2010 honors for Chapas, also named the permanent team captain for 2010:

"At team's annual awards Gala, earned team's Coaches Leadership Award for Special Teams, the Leon Farmer Award for dedication to the strength and conditioning program and the David Jacobs Award as the player who by example portrays courage, spirit, character and determination. *Named to ESPN Academic All-District III First Team."

The longest run of his career that had very few rushing carries was 22 yards against Texas A&M in the 2009 Independence Bowl.

With the 11th pick of the sixth round, 176th overall, the Dallas Cowboys selected wide receiver/kick returner Dwayne Harris of East Carolina.

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper calls Harris "arguably the best pick the Cowboys have made in the last couple days. He can help you in so many ways. You can put him in the slot. He's a nightmare matchup." He did have some costly drops, Kiper noted.

Kiper likes Harris' versatility and being a veteran of the college wars. "He'll be a great pick for the Dallas Cowboys."

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said of Harris that "we like what he does for our football team," citing his intangible traits and the type of player the Cowboys want.

Garrett's yardstick for what all the first six picks do: "the measurables, the right kind of guys and good football players."

With the 12th pick of the fifth round, the 143rd pick overall, the Dallas Cowboys selected University of Buffalo cornerback Josh Thomas, who went to high school at Cedar Hill near Dallas and was recruited to snowy UB by Fort Worth native Turner Gill, former Buffalo head coach now at Kansas.

Thomas has been called a sleeper in online media reports, listed at 5-10, 191, average speed, tough competitor who says his favorite college moment came in 2008 against Missouri when he did well against a Tigers team that had Chase Daniel at quarterback and Jeremy Maclin at wideout.

He tells of competing at a regional track meet while at Cedar Hill where a main rival stumbled in the hurdles and Thomas went on to win. Thomas gave his gold medal to his rival, who had fallen, Thomas saying he knew he had won the race and didn't need a medal, but wanted to respect his rival.

If he played for Gill, you figure a lot was demanded of him as a player and a person.

ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer on Dallas Cowboys' fourth-round pick David Arkin, offesnvie tackle from Missouri State who will convert to guard.

"This is one of my sleeper offensive linemen. I love the big uglies that are nasty. David Arkin has all the qualities it takes to be a big-time guard in this leage. It's hard to find good offensive guards in this league. ... He's still growing into his body. He's a lot like Jahri Evans [the Saints' Pro Bowl guard who was a fourth-round pick from Bloomsburg State] a few years ago, a small college offensive tackle moving to guard."

Arkin was the 110th overall pick. The Denver Broncos took a safety, Oklahoma's Quinton Carter, a high-character guy who played through a lingering neck injury with the Sooners, two picks before Arkin.

The Eagles have drafted a potential replacement for longtime stalwart kicker David Akers with the fourth-round pick of Nebraska super foot Alex Henery.

April 29, 2011

At least that's what the Cowboys figured. Owner Jerry Jones said he used the former Cowboys head coach for an evaluation of DeMarco Murray, the Oklahoma running back that the Cowboys selected in the third round.

"We even called on Barry Switzer, who candidly is one of the best running back evaluators there has been and is, because he has seen so many and really studies them," Jones said. "So we had Barry weigh in on us in the draft room there tonight. But of course, he really knew him well because DeMarco Murray is from up in Oklahoma.”

IRVING – Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who said Thursday he planned to make time to talk to Dez Bryant on Friday at Valley Ranch about off-the-field issues, did not meet with the receiver.

Jones blamed his schedule and said it was not Bryant’s fault.

"I didn’t talk to him direct. We had good communication," Jones said. "I got tied up. I spent a lot more time this morning on labor issues."

Jones said that although Bryant was in town, he didn’t consider it a negative that last season’s No. 1 pick didn’t make it to the complex. However, for Bryant, not coming to Valley Ranch meant he missed an opportunity to meet with his new position coach, Jimmy Robinson, and the trainers. During the lockout, the players and trainers can’t have direct contact.

"We don’t know what his schedule was," Jones said. "Since certainly, almost the day before, he wasn’t planning to be here. Some were able to make it. Some had other plans. I’m not trying to make excuses for him."

The Cowboys had planned to let their players return today and Sunday for more work at Valley Ranch before the NFL – granted a stay hours earlier of a judge’s order lifting the lockout – issued a memo Friday night saying players would not be allowed to return to work.

The teams can make their new draftees available for media interviews, however, and the Cowboys plan to bring second-round pick Bruce Carter and third-round pick DeMarco Murray to Valley Ranch.

Head coach Jason Garrett said "20 or so" players showed up Friday for workouts, running and meetings with their position coaches.

"It was nothing formal. It was a chance for them to connect," Garrett said.

DeMarco Murray, the Cowboys' third-round pick, said he hopes he's proved he's past his reputation as an injury-prone player. He was healthy all of last year with the Sooners, starting every game for the first time in his career.

"I missed four games in four years, and that was in the beginning of my career and had no problems after that, and I definitely bounced back and carried myself well," he said. "I’m 100 percent."

Murray missed the national championship game three years ago with a hamstring injury. He suffered it returning the opening kickoff in the Big 12 championship game.

He said he enrolled in a yoga class at Oklahoma as part of an effort to learn more about his body and how to take care of it.

“I realized how valuable my body is and how much I need to tend to it," he said.